Power: Monarchy and Democracy in Britain c.1000–2014

Led by A.V. Dicey Simulacrum

A British thematic study for OCR GCSE History A — a thousand years of power in Britain, from kings who ruled to parliamentary democracy, traced through who holds power, on what claim, by what methods, and how it is challenged.

1. Module 1 ○ Open

   Power c.1000–c.1485

   Led by A.V. Dicey Simulacrum

   The question

   How was power held and challenged when it rested in one person's hands? You will study Anglo-Saxon kingship, the Norman transfer of power in 1066, the struggles from King John and Magna Carta through the emergence of Parliament under Henry III and Edward I, the deposition of Richard II, and the Wars of the Roses — using the four themes of holders, claims, methods, and challenges.

   Outcome

   You can explain how power was held, claimed, maintained, and challenged c.1000–c.1485, and recognise Magna Carta and the birth of Parliament as the seeds of what followed.

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2. Module 2 ○ Open

   Power c.1485–c.1800

   Led by A.V. Dicey Simulacrum

   The question

   How did the decisive question of the constitution — Crown alone, or Crown in Parliament — get settled? You will study the growth of Tudor royal power, the Civil Wars and the abolition and Restoration of the monarchy, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Bill of Rights, and the development of a parliamentary monarchy and political parties across the 1700s.

   Outcome

   You can explain the transformation of power c.1485–c.1800, with the seventeenth-century crisis and the Glorious Revolution as the hinge on which the whole study turns.

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3. Module 3 ○ Open

   Power c.1800–2014

   Led by A.V. Dicey Simulacrum

   The question

   How did power widen from a narrow class to the whole population? You will study dissatisfaction with the early electoral system, the Reform Acts of 1832, 1867, and 1884, the rise of trade unions and the Labour Party, the winning of women's suffrage, the growth of the state through the world wars and after 1945, and the modern challenges to Parliament from the Miners' Strike to devolution and coalition.

   Outcome

   You can explain the development of democracy c.1800–2014 and make a supported judgement about continuity and change in who held power across the full thousand-year span.

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